


Day One Hundred Eighteen || At The Top

by 365daysofsasuhina



Series: 365 Days of SasuHina 2019 [118]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 17:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/365daysofsasuhina/pseuds/365daysofsasuhina
Summary: They say it's lonely at the top. After short lifetime of struggle, Sasuke is one of two of the strongest shinobi in the world...but he's never been so alone.





	Day One Hundred Eighteen || At The Top

They say it’s lonely at the top.

From the night he lost them, all Sasuke had ever wanted was justice for his family. At first, that meant killing Itachi. The man - boy - he’d assumed was the one solely responsible for the genocide of their entire clan...save for the two brothers themselves. One the perpetrator, the other...the lone survivor.

Of course, the truth turned out to be so much more convoluted than that.

For nearly a decade, Sasuke trained every spare moment. Drove his tiny body to its limits no matter the weather, the circumstances, the odds. He had but one purpose. One goal. It consumed his every thought, pushing everything else to the wayside. He had no time for bonds, friends, memories. He couldn’t rest - couldn’t stop - until he was at the top. Only when he became the best could he stand a chance against his elder brother...and finally put the souls of his massacred brethren to rest.

So...yes, it was lonely, even then.

His Academy classmates were background noise. Shadows in the corners of his vision he had no reason, no inkling to turn and see. All that drew his gaze was the task laid out before him.

Some tried to reach him. Sakura with shallow affection. Naruto with boasting rivalry. And later Kakashi with his cryptic warnings. He...indulged in them for a time. But as twisted as his intentions were, Orochimaru’s intervention reminded him of his true purpose. He had no time for genin games, or bothering with the shinobi ranking system. Naruto, it was clear, was gaining on him...him, a prodigy, being approached by a knucklehead dead-last!

If someone as lowly as Naruto could threaten him...then he’d stand no chance against Itachi.

So he’d accepted the serpent’s offer: made a deal with the devil. In the end, to him, it didn’t matter where the power came from, or at what price. All that mattered was, before his own dying day, Itachi would face his, at  _ his _ own hand. Sasuke would end the life of the boy - man - he’d once admired so...adored, and gazed after jealously for their father’s attention.

A father they no longer had...and it was all Itachi’s fault…!

The snake sannin’s training had been effective...if not irritating. His obvious lust for the Uchiha blood in Sasuke’s veins was like an itch in a place he couldn’t reach. Add in Kabuto’s thinly-veiled envy, the hatred (and later fear) from many of Orochimaru’s other underlings, and the constant moving about between lairs, and Sasuke was fed up by the time they were discovered by his own team.

...he’d truly felt nothing, seeing them again.

Sakura had never really loved him. She loved the  _ idea _ of him. The idea without his faults, his traumas, his reality. Her affection sickened him. And Naruto...he still couldn’t see what Naruto wanted from  _ him _ . Surely the Uzumaki had most of what he himself had desired since young. Acknowledgement, friendship...he was no longer alone. Why the fixation on Sasuke? Just because they had similarities didn’t mean they couldn't ever be apart. It  _ irritated _ him like nothing else.

He’d almost killed Naruto on a whim.

From there, things began to change yet again. Sasuke found himself more and more bored with Orochimaru’s antics...and soon decided he had no further need for the serpent. Killing his main body hadn’t been the end of him, of course...but it removed a thorn in his side.

...and it was satisfying. As well as a mark of his level.

Hebi was assembled from the most sensical parts. Even if, in some ways, they reminded him of his old squad. Karin’s obnoxious affections were on par with - perhaps even worse than - Sakura’s. Despite his obvious disinterest - and later blatant disregard - she continued to fawn over him. Foolish. Suigetsu’s needling and humor were a bit reminiscent of Naruto. But at least Suigetsu had wit.

Jūgo...well, Jūgo was decent company when not on a rampage. All else aside, Sasuke might’ve considered him a friend.

But in the end, they were a means  _ to _ an end. He’d protect them as long as necessary, but...when push came to shove, little more mattered than Itachi. Everything else, in his eyes, was disposable.

And then, it happened. The longest, most physically-straining battle of his life...against Itachi. The last thing standing in his way before reaching sweet, sweet justice for the clan.

...or...so he thought.

Awaking from the darkness, Sasuke was told the truth: Itachi’s truth. Konoha’s truth. His clan’s truth.

And so began a new leg of his journey: revenge against the council that had issued the order...and the village that had been allowed to live on in peace at the cost of nearly every drop of Uchiha blood. And not just those lost to Itachi’s blade...no. There’d been many,  _ many _ more before that. A system of oppression spanning generations...that he would put to an  _ end _ .

He would bring it  _ all _ to an end.

Fighting Danzō hadn’t been easy...but in the end, he’d forced the councilman’s hand. Then there was yet another reunion with his  _ team _ ...after sacrificing one of the others. Konoha, of course, took Karin with them. Sasuke, frustrated with his limits, accepted his brother’s eyes.

Then came healing.

Then...came the war.

He’d stumbled upon Itachi completely by accident. Demanded answers. Agreed to wait until Kabuto was dealt with. And even then, Itachi’s genius and pacifism shone through as he both defeated...and spared Orochimaru’s old underling. Claimed to still be loyal to Konoha. And then...vanished back into the afterlife.

And left Sasuke with more questions than answers...answers he’d pry from the previous Hokage themselves. Among which was Hashirama. Madara’s closest friend, and greatest enemy.

...the parallels between them, and Naruto and Sasuke, were striking...and irritating.

In the end, they’d convinced him. He and the others joined the war...and Sasuke learned his destiny. One he fulfilled alongside Naruto, and the rest of Team Seven.

Then came his plans to wipe the slate clean...and for the last time, Naruto stood in his way.

For the first - and last - time...Sasuke admitted he’d been defeated.

But there was still so much to be answered for. So much to learn, to see, to judge. He planned to do it all, but...Life had other plans for him.

And for his brother.

Which meant returning - however begrudgingly - to Konoha...and Sasuke’s decision to make it, and it alone, his ultimate project. He would take the shell of the village - hollowed with the loss of the council - and shape it into something better...but how?

His return was, admittedly...lonely. He wanted nothing - at first - to do with his team. They’d wounded him too badly. Too deeply. Time, and much of it, would be needed before he even tried to tend to it. The rest of his agemates were wary of him...and for good reasons. He had his past to atone for...and he was at the top of the shinobi world. Only Naruto could hope to hold a candle to him.

At first, he didn’t mind the loneliness. He has those few last scraps of family. But then...he met someone different. Or rather...met her again.

They say it’s lonely at the top, but...well, maybe he wouldn’t be quite so lonely after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil introspective piece from Sasuke's POV. I tend to...exaggerate Sasuke's loneliness when I write him. I write him more seriously, without as much focus on Team Seven. Cuz honestly...they'd have been a distraction for him, and I think even in canon he did his best not to get too dragged into it. Same with Hebi / Taka. Sasuke was too driven - too focused - to really bond with someone like that, imo.
> 
> Hence why his ship doesn't happen until AFTER all is said and done. When has the headspace to do so.
> 
> Idk, I'm very tired and sick and blegh. Thanks for reading, lol


End file.
